A young manager looking for an introduction to the beautiful game...

After a dismal season which saw 5 different managers take the spot in the dugout during the 2016/17 season, Leyton Orient were relegated to the Vanarama National League for the first time in their 136 year history. This poor season saw Omer Riza, the last permanent manager, part ways with the club at the end of his contract, after only 2 months at the club. With all these struggles, who will Orient appoint next?

In steps young manager Retro Retroson. The 20 year old manager previously had trials with QPR, Millwall and Brentford before hanging up his boots to focus on management. Can he return Leyton Orient to the club they once were? Can he take them beyond their highest position in the Sky Bet Championship? Only time will tell...

Good opening @Retro262 good luck with the Orient!

Good luck @Retro262

So who is the new Leyton Orient manager? The BBC invited him to sit down and talk about his new job and his little experience with Match of the Day host Gary Lineker.

GL: "So, you've just been appointed manager of Leyton Orient, which must be a tough first job given their recent struggles?"
RR: "I feel confident, even though this is my first job in management I think I can restore Leyton Orient to the team they once were, and hopefully under my tenure we can get ourselves back to the top end of the Football League."

GL: "You never made it into the game as a professional footballer, despite having successful trials, why was that?"
RR: "I never really felt comfortable with the other players or at those clubs, and at the young age of 17 I didn't really think football was for me. But I'm here now, I've earned my National A License and I'm ready to give management a go. Who knows, maybe I will decide to get back into playing?"

GL: "At just 20 years old, you'll be younger than most of the players, how do you feel about that?"
RR: "I don't think age matters really, there are some clubs in which you'll find at least one player older than the manager, and they seem to run fine, so why would it be a problem here?"

GL: "Don't you think you are a bit young to become a manager, surely it's a demanding job and the pressure will become too much? After all, there are some legends of the game who couldn't transfer their skills to management, so what makes you so sure you'll succeed?"
RR: "As I said, age really doesn't matter; I'm ready to try my hand in management and revive this fallen team."

GL: "Thanks for your time."
RR: "Thank you."

So Pre-Season went well, picking up a massive win over Sky Bet League 2 Port Vale along with a 7-1 away win over Shortwood, while also drawing 1-1 with Sky Bet League 1 Southend United. Some good signs from pre-season, showing that Leyton Orient aren't about to just give up and slide down the leagues.

Manager Retro Retroson was caught saying that "he was proud of his team's pre-season" and that he "can't wait for the start of the Vanarama National League season, kicking off with an away trip to Sutton."

You still couldn't beat Buxton though, we're tougher than you think! Some nice pre-season results, good luck with the league

Best of luck!

Thanks everyone, I'm looking forward to going all the way with Leyton Orient and I'm really hoping I don't get sacked

So after our first 15 league games, we're sitting 2nd (possibly 3rd depending on the Hartlepool result) in the Vanarama National League, picking up 9 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses. We started life in the league very well, picking up 5 wins from our first 5 games, but after that we went through a little bit a bad patch, but we're starting to get back into good form now, which is good because our best striker is on international duty right now so we're having to find the goals from other sources, and our rock of a CM Alex Lawless is currently injured, which has proved to be a big loss.



Up next we have a home game against Wealdstone in the FA Cup 4th Qualifying round, but after that we have some crucial games coming up including a home game against Gateshead who are 5th, and in a couple of months Maidstone away.

Here's hoping Macauley Bonne isn't gone for too long with these stats!

As you can see, we've had a good run of form, only losing 4 league games in 17 in the league, winning 9 and drawing 4. We've also launched a cup run, knocking out multiple league 1 teams, proving we really shouldn't be in the conference. We're currently sitting 1st in the league on GD, just ahead of Hartlepool with 60 points. If we can get back to our previous form we should have no issue in confirming automatic promotion back to the Football League.



We've also added to our squad in January, and now there's a big enough list to be able to show all the transfers this season, which are the following.



Overall, I'm happy with how the season's gone so far and hopefully we can push on and get ourselves back to the top!

Sensational league form buddy and a great cup run, wonder if the giant killings can continue against Leicester!

End of Season Update

So as you can see at the end of the season we finished 2nd, qualifying for the National League Playoff semi final. We had a few poor results towards the end of the season, which saw us lose ground on Eastleigh and drop down from 1st to 2nd. 3 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses in our last 8 league games wasn't a good patch of form to take into the playoffs, but ultimately form didn't seem to matter. These were our results from the last update until the end of the season;



So into the playoffs then. We matched up against Dagenham and Redbridge in the semi final and we played out a thrilling game for the neutrals, running out 4-3 winners in the end. We took the lead twice, going 1-0 and 2-1 up, before adding a third and eventually going into half time 3-2 up. Dagenham equalised 12 minutes after the break, but Aron Pollock added his name into the history books as he scored the winner in the 73rd minute. So who would we play in the final?



Welcome to Wembley everybody, for the National League playoff final between Leyton Orient and Maidstone United. The first half was tense, with a few misplaced shots and half chances but no real attacking edge from either side, with the first goal of the game coming 10 minutes after half time, though captain George Elokobi. Right winger Rommy Boco added the 2nd 7 minutes later and after that the game sort of died out, with top scorer Macauley Bonne missing a one on one chance with 6 minutes to go.



So Leyton Orient are back into League 2 at the first time of asking, thanks to young inexperienced manager Retro Retroson. The players will no doubt celebrate all through the night before jetting off for a quick holiday before pre-season.

There was also a great cup run in the mix, proving ourselves a real specialist against the League 1 teams but we also managed to overcome struggling Leicester, who were 19th at that point. However, it all came apart in the semi final against Chelsea; bringing us back to reality. Until next year, FA Cup...

Also, 22 year old striker Macauley Bonne finished joint top scorer in the league, just behind Aldershot's on loan striker Donovan Wilson, both finishing on 32 goals.



From now on I'll only be doing 2 updates a season; one going into January and one at the end of the season.

So let's start with the transfers from the summer window, and by god there was a lot of incomings. Manager Retro Retroson decided the best approach was to sign some experienced players for this level while also bringing in promising youth on free transfers, and also loaning players in from better clubs including the senior affiliate Leicester. So with this, 18 players joined the club, with 5 players leaving on loan and one permanently, being one of our better players in the National League - Sam Dalby. Most of these players were signed on a one year deal so if they don't work out, they'll be straight back out the door.



So onto the league then, where we currently sit 4th on GD, which is exceeding expectations and feels like a dream! Even with the major signings from the summer, manager Retroson would never have expected to be sitting so high just after christmas, which can be attributed to Macauley Bonne's impressive 14 goals in 19 games. Honestly I can't see us finishing high in the table come May so we'd better soak up all the glory while we can, before crashing back down to reality and finishing mid-table as the board expect. It is good to be able to say that after 24 games we're only 10 points off league leaders Coventry though!



We actually started the season in pretty bad form, which prompted the manager to change the tactic around, changing from a 4-4-2 control based tactic to a 4-2-3-1 counter/control tactic. After this we hit pretty good form, going from being winless in 5 to being unbeaten in 5, sparking a good patch going into Christmas. December has definitely been our best month and I really hope we can continue this great form into January and throughout the season, but we can't fly high too long can we? We may just end up flying into the sun...





We have started a cup run in the FA Cup as well, which has brought some hope back to Brisbane road after crashing out of the Carabao cup with a 6-0 home loss against Portsmouth, beating Dorking Wanderers and Eastleigh - both games requiring a replay - and drew Billericay in the 3rd round, so can we launch another great cup run?

Lastly, the race for the golden boot is looking pretty tight just after the halfway mark, with just 4 goals between 1st and 6th. Macauley Bonne is the only Orient player to be seen at the top, with his 14 goal tally taking him up to 3rd.



I'll see you all at the end of the season, here's hoping we don't drop out of the playoff spots!

Wish us luck...

Looks like you'll be there or there abouts this season! push on till the end fella!

I'm guessing anyone who kept up with this has realised I stopped doing updates, I ran out of motivation to keep doing the updates and so decided to continue the save behind closed doors, but I've updated the seasons to show where I've finished and how I've done and maybe I can pick this up again in the future.

Thanks to all who read this and maybe my next career will last a bit longer!

Nice read mate, and great work on where you guys are at now! Keep it going, hope to see an update soon

Hey everyone,

Just a quick update to let you all know that I have finally reached the Premier League after 7 seasons! You can see an overview of my progress under the seasons tab to see how I've got on each year

That works! Congrats on reaching the Premier League! The Championship looked a hard slodge, in comparison to you flying through non-league and Leagues 1 and 2.